SyFy Experimenting With Philips' Hue Lights To Add New Dimension To 'The Expanse'

A good, properly configured surround-sound system can put you in the middle of the action of a TV show or movie, minus all the burdens a fictional protagonist must bear. But what if you're chasing that something extra? Syfy, using Philips' Hue lights, is having a crack at that special something, using its new show The Expanse as a guinea pig.

[The colours change] depending on what's shown on-screen during an episode of its new drama "The Expanse". During a moment of suspense, the light may glow blue, only to flash in red patters in the middle of a fire fight.

I imagine you could take it further — gunfire hits a ship, and the lights flicker as power is interrupted. It'd certainly add another dimension to each viewing.

There are a few catches, however:

[The lights] are controlled by the SyFy Sync second-screen app. Users just have to start the app on their Android or iOS device, after which it automatically listens to the TV to keep track of the action, and then change the color and intensity of the light based on what’s happening in the show.

Not exactly the most hands-off experience, but then, it's just an experiment. One we're unlikely to ever see deployed en masse, but it's certainly a nice idea.

Comments

As a house that now has 25 Hue lights! This is very cool!
(Have 12 full colour, 12 White only and one light strip), found the best way to get many of the Hue pieces though was importing from UK and US. We're a long way off the latest Hue releases here in Oz.

It will be good when this becomes "hands off" and the Hue bridge talks to the TV directly, you start watching a show and get a pop up on the screen asking if you would like to enable "active lighting".

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